Holiday How to: Make Recycled Paper Tree Ornaments

This post was originally published on DIY Network’s blog Made + Remade in December 2013.

‘Tis the season! It’s time to get crafty and engage the whole family by making custom ornaments for your own tree. These little paper trees are fun, easy, and inexpensive – a true holiday hurrah!

Step 1

Cut 1-2″ wide strips of old magazine pages. The more colorful, the better. I found that pages with advertisements offered the widest array of color (with less chance of text interfering). Fold the strips in half lengthwise. This helps to give the paper a little more weight, and to give the finished ornament more structure.

Step 2

The tree ornament itself will be formed by curling the strips of paper around your finger, and using hot glue to attach the paper to itself as it coils. Gradually make the coils looser, so that the paper begins to take a tree form, going from narrow at the top to wide at the base.

Step 3

Choose a material for your star to top the tree. A pipe cleaner would work well for this, but I had some leftover holiday wire that suited the project perfectly, too. Trim a 10″ piece of wire, and fold 4-6″ of it into a star that is in proportion to your paper tree.

Step 4

Thread the remaining wire (the still straight end) through the opening at the top of the tree, and twist it into a knot from the inside so that it can’t slip back out. Only the star should shine at the top!

Step 5

Ta-da! Make them en masse for your friends, family, or kid’s teachers as a small holiday gift. Attach a piece of floral wire to secure the ornament to the tree. (This is also a good technique if you need to protect heavy or fragile ornaments from breaking.)